Need-Based Grant

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The AUWCL Office of Financial Aid offers need-based grants to qualifying full-time JD students only. The application is offered free-of-charge and must be completed electronically on an annual basis. Grants are available to U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens as defined by federal criteria.

Parental information is required of every applicant for need-based grant support. Applications without parental information are incomplete and will not be considered. While we do not expect parents to contribute to law school, the application requires this information for all applicants regardless of age, marital status or dependents in order to gain a sense of the socioeconomic background the student is coming from and to gauge systemic need.

Grant recipients must maintain full-time enrollment (12 credits per semester), comply with program rules, and are limited to three years of support. Eligible recipients receive a $15,000 need-based grant.

Deadline

The need-based grant application deadline is March 1and is typically made available in December. The application must be completed annually. Need-based grant applications may be submitted prior to an admissions decision to meet the application deadline; do not wait for an offer of admission to apply.

Late applications will only be reviewed if funding is available. Please contact finaid@wcl.american.edu to learn about the waitlist process for late applications.

How to Apply

Before you begin, you will need your federal taxes to answer application questions. For the 2018-2019 grant application, you will need your 2016 federal taxes. Please note: The 2018-2019 application is currently closed.

The information submitted on the application is confidential and secure. Only the particular user has access to edit/view their data. In other words, student applicants cannot see the parent data and vice versa.

Step One: Student applicant is required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online at https://fafsa.ed.gov/ and select American University title IV code 001434. Parent information is submitted via the AUWCL Need-Based Aid Application (see Steps Three and Four below).

Step Three: The submitted student application sends a secure email to the parent email address(es) granting them access so they can complete their section. The email will be sent by finaid@wcl.american.edu. Please note that valid email addresses must be used or the application will be considered incomplete.

Step Four: Parent and non-custodial, if applicable, complete and submit their section of the application. Detailed instructions are found on the application. All sections of the applications must show as “submitted” by the March 1 deadline in order to receive grant consideration.

Step Five: The AUWCL Financial Aid Office reviews the completed application to determine need-based grant eligibility. Award decisions for incoming students are typically sent via email in mid-March and continuing students in June.

Helpful Tips

First-time users of the institutional application will create a login. Current AUWCL students must use their AU credentials. Prospective/admitted students can use a personal email account to create their login and then will submit their application either using their AUID or LSAC number. Parents will use the email address given on the student application. Valid email addresses are required.

Once you submit information on the AUWCL Need-Based Aid Application, it cannot be updated and you will need to notify the AUWCL Financial Aid Office of any necessary changes in writing to finaid@wcl.american.edu.

Completed applications can be printed after submission; however, you can only print your section that you completed.

Student applicants can confirm the status of individual sections after logging in to their application account.